A Crash Into Fate
by ManCityFan
Summary: Yep, another human in the Pridelands story. After a fatal cash killing both his parents and sister, Gareth finds himself alone in the Pridelands. Although King Mufasa allows him to join the pride, our hero isn't interested in staying. While Gareth searches for a way back to humanity, he becomes close with Simba and his friends. Will they succeed in convincing him to stay?
1. Chapter 1

**Gareth...Gareth! Wake up already!**

Gareth opened his eyes, and realized that it was his younger sister, Camy, who had woken him.

Gareth grunted, reclosing his tired eyes not yet wanting to get up. Still half asleep he asked "what do you want Camy"?

He wasn't mad or anything, just tired that's all.

"It's already 10:30, you said we would leave soon" Camy replied in an almost whining tone.

That's when Gareth remembered where he was.

Gareth, his younger sister and two parents were currently waiting in the lounge of Jomo Kenyatta Intl, Kenya's international airport. They were on vacation, heading for Tanzania.

They wouldn't be flying via an airline though. Gareth, though only 17, had his private pilot's license, and the plan was to rent a small aircraft and for Gareth to fly them to Tanzania himself.

Gareth looked down at his watch, quickly conforming that it was, in fact, already 10:30 PM. "OK Camy, you win. I'm up" Gareth said, slowly rising from the chair he fell asleep in. "yippee!" Camy exclaimed, "I'm gonna go get mom and dad". "Tell them I'm gonna go fill the the paperwork for the aircraft's rental" Gareth said. "Sure thing, man" Camy said, skipping over to their sleeping parents.

Gareth walked over to the aircraft rental kiosk, which was conveniently stationed right near the lounge. He got the necessary paperwork, and sat down to fill them out. Gareth got right to work, calculating how much fuel they'd need to reach their destination, submitting their flight plan (a flight plan is basically the route they'd be flying) and filled out the insurance. After about half an hour the paperwork was complete, the only step left was Gareth's favourite - choosing an aircraft. Gareth flipped through the aircraft rentals' catalogue, which listed all of its available aircraft. The selection was huge, they seemed to have it all. From a small two seater Cessna 150 to luxurious private jets such as the Cessna Citation X, you name it...they had it!

Gareth always loved going through aircraft rental catalogues, knowing he had the "power" of choosing one. Gareth's passion for aviation was almost indescribable, and here he was, again, flipping through pages full of beautiful aircraft, moments away from choosing his families ride for the day.

After a huge mental selection debate between three aircraft, he finally made up his mind and made his choice - a Piper PA-28 Cherokee.

Gareth chose that aircraft often, due to it being very fuel efficient meaning they'd spend less money on fuel, and for the fact it was surprisingly very stable for a light aircraft, meaning they'd hopefully have a smooth flight.

Gareth got up and handed the now completed paperwork to the aircraft rental attendant. "Very good sir" the attendant said, "your aircraft is located in hangar 17b, we will begin fueling it shortly". "Thanks" Gareth replied as he turned around, heading back for his parents who were still in the lounge, waiting for his return.

As Gareth approached his family Camy looked up, and as soon as she saw her older brother, she jumped up wrapping her hands around him. "Well, it's good to see you too, Camy" Gareth said in a joking tone. Camy smiled. "What took you so long?" she asked, "well, you know how long filling out paperwork can take" Gareth answered her. Camy let go of him, and Gareth made his way over to his sitting parents, who both smiled as he approached them. "Hi Mom! Hi dad!" he said walking over to them. "Hi, Son! So, what's the scoop?" Gareth's dad asked, smiling at his son.

"well basically, I filled out all the paperwork, and we should be good to go as soon as I go over the flight plan again" Gareth answered. "Very well" his dad answered, "just don't be long. In the meantime we'll get ready".

Gareth made his way over to the seat that he had fallen asleep in, his backpack was right next to it. He bent down and unzipped his backpack, eventually finding his flight folder inside. He pulled it out of his backpack and sat down. Gareth flipped through the folder's pages, eventually coming across today's flight plan, raising it closer so that he'd get a better view. He studied it closely for the third time that day; It would be a pretty straight forward flight, not too many turns, and the total flight time would take no longer than two hours. Gareth closed his folder, putting it back in his backpack.

He looked up, just in time to catch his sister, Camy, walking towards him.

"Hey bro, you almost done? Let's get going already…" she said hugging him.

"As a matter of fact, we should be good to go. Are you guys ready?" Gareth answered. "We've been ready for like an hour. Waiting on you" Camy said in a joking tone. "Oh come on, Camy. I haven't been that long. Cut me some slack will ya?" Gareth said, chuckling to himself. Camy chuckled, "whatever you say! I'll tell mom and dad that you're ready" she said, running off back to their parents. Gareth sighed as he stared into space, thinking about his families upcoming vacation. It was sure to be an experience - two fun filled weeks in Tanzania. They'd go on hikes, go sightseeing, hang out in the 5 star hotel they'd be staying in, and last but definitely not least, Gareth's favourite, the safari. Since Gareth could remember, he always loved animals, especially anything in the big cat family, his favourite being lions. Lions just fascinated him, for a reason Gareth couldn't explain. It possibly had to do with the fact that lions are the the only true social cats, that fact alone fascinated him.

 **Time skip 30 min**

Gareth and his family were currently inside the massive airport hangar. Meanwhile, Gareth was helping his dad load the remaining suitcases into the aircraft's luggage compartment. After they had finished, an airport maintenance worker approached them, handing Gareth a clipboard which had a document attached that showed the amount of fuel the maintenance had filled in gallons. "We filled your aircraft with the amount of fuel you requested. Please just sign below to confirm that we fueled your aircraft as requested" the worker asked. Gareth, being rushed by the fact that they were behind schedule, didn't exactly have the time to check the document and quickly signed below in the required place, handing the clipboard back to the airport worker. Little did Gareth know that he'd later greatly regret not double checking the fuel payload...

"Very good, Sir. Have a pleasant flight" the worker said, and with that, he turned around walking away to tend to the next aircraft on his busy list.

Gareth turned to face his father. "Ok dad, please get everyone inside the plane. I'm gonna do a walk around inspection. And then we should be good to go" Gareth said. "Very well son, just try to hurry up".

Gareth began his inspection, first checking the landing gear - all three looked good. He then made his way to the aircraft's wings, closely inspecting the flaps and the plane's two piston propeller engines, as far as Gareth could tell, all seemed in working order.

About two minutes later, his inspection was complete. Walking over to the front of the plane, he opened the cockpit door, hopped in and slammed it shut.

Gareth fastened his seatbelt; looking behind him he saw Camy and his parents seated in the aircraft's three passenger seats talking amongst themselves. "Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts. We should be on our way shortly" Gareth said in a joking, muffled voice, trying to sound as if he was speaking into a loudspeaker. His parents and sister laughed and said at the same time "yes, captain!". Gareth chuckled, reaching down for his headset. After he had properly positioned it over his head he clicked the radio button. "Kenyatta tower, Tango Charlie Alpha 11 here, we're ready to taxi to an active runway" Gareth said into his headset microphone. "Roger TCA 11, taxi to runway 24. Contact tower when ready" an air traffic controller quickly responded. "Taxiing to runway 24. Thanks!" Gareth said into the microphone, he then turned his head to face his family. "OK guys, we got the go ahead. Who's excited?" Gareth asked. "I am!" all three of his family members answered in union.

Gareth turned his head back to face the aircraft's many controls. _OK let's do this_ he thought to himself, reaching for the throttle and pushing it forward to taxi speed. The aircraft slowly started to move, gaining speed with every second. Gareth steered the plane out of the hanger and into the taxiway, the full moon's light shining through the aircraft's windshield, instantly filling the aircraft's cabin with radiant light. It was a dark night, the only light sources being the moon and the many LED's built into the taxiway, lighting it up.

The aircraft pushed forward on the taxiway until it reached runway 24's threshold. Gareth pulled the throttle back and the plane came to a stop. He then switched his headset back on and radioed the tower. "Kenyatta tower, TCA 11 lined up, ready for takeoff".

"TCA 11 Roger, cleared for takeoff" was the response he received.

Gareth pushed the throttle forward and turned the yolk (AKA joystick) left, causing the aircraft to turn onto the runway. Gareth lined up, centering the aircraft to the runway and lowered the flaps. "OK, guys. Here we go!" Gareth said, and with that, he jammed the throttle forward all the way. The aircraft's two propellers roared into life, spinning thousands of times a minute. The aircraft started speeding down the runway. Gareth kept his eyes on the speed indicator, and as soon as they reached 110 knots, he pulled back on the yolk, sending the planes nose upwards as the plane quickly left the ground, soaring into the nights sky.

After they had reached an altitude of 10,000 feet, Gareth put the plane on autopilot, and turned to face his family.

"Nice takeoff son. Very smooth" his mom said, smiling at her son. "Well thank you mom" Gareth replied. He then looked over to Camy, she was playing some game on her phone. "Hey, Camy. How was my takeoff?" Gareth asked with a grin. "It was awesome, as always" she answered nonchalantly, still looking down at her phone. Gareth decided it would be best to leave her to her games, and turned around back to the controls. Gareth switched off the autopilot, regaining control of the aircraft. Gareth looked up, and couldn't help but to hear is parents speaking behind him, who were planning out the vacation together, causing him to smile.

 _Tanzania, here we come!_ He thought to himself. With that he pushed the throttle forward, gaining speed as the plane soared steadily through the night…

 **Time skip 1 hour**

Gareth yawned, looking down at the plane's GPS, it showed they were now more than halfway there. He then raised his arm looking at his watch, 12:00 Pm, midnight. _Wow, we aren't really that behind schedule_ Gareth thought to himself. His sister and parents were all quietly asleep, looking back at them he smiled. They seemed so peaceful back there. The moment was distributed by a sound, a loud short recurring sound that is. Gareth knew all too well it was, and most importantly, what it meant.

An alarm, to be more specific, the low fuel alarm beeping away, every pilot's worst nightmare. Gareth quickly turned his head around, looking carefully at the fuel gauges. He froze, they were indeed almost dry on fuel. Gareth shook his head, it was like a horrible dream coming true. He cursed under his breath, desperately thinking what to do. That's when he froze for the second time, he knew all too well what was going to happen. Almost every mid flight emergency had a resolution, that is, except this one. No fuel meant no fuel. He desperately scanned the GPS for the closest airport, in hopes of making a safe landing before they completely ran dry on fuel.

The more he scanned the GPS, the more he realized that, unfortunately, there _were no_ close airport.

Gareth looked back at the fuel gage. They now had only minutes left, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. _How can we be out of fuel, dammit! How?!_ He thought, and that's when it hit him. _I must've miscalculated the fuel. That has to be the reason. But how?_ He thought, trembling with fear. If only he had double checked the fuel. If only he had actually spent a minute and checked the clipboard the maintenance worker had handed him, he would have surely noticed the error.

At the exact moment he finished his thoughts - the plan completely ran out of fuel. The plane's two massive propellers stopped spinning, and eventually, the laws of physics came into play - stalling the plane. Gareth cursed again, and with that, the plane's nose dropped, and in seconds they were in a steep dive. The violent force of the dive almost instantly woke up his family. His dad shook his head in confusion. Though it was dark out, he could tell something was wrong. He looked towards his son, who was violents flipping all sorts of switches, and was turning countless knobs. "Gareth, what the hell is the matter?" he asked in a concerned voice. No answer. "Gareth, what the hell is going on?" he asked again, in a sturner tone. Still no answer. "Gareth, answer me dammit!" he finally yelled. Gareth knew he had to answer. In a shaky voice he said "dad, we're out of fuel. I Must've made a miscalculation. We're in a dive. It's all my fault!". "Tell me it isn't true…" he heard his mom ask, pure fear in her voice. "I'm sorry, mom…" he answered. He heard his mom burst into tears, and Camy joined her. Hearing them cry broken Gareth's heart. Suddenly a new alarm sounded in the cockpit - _Too low, terrain! Too low, terrain;_ warning them that they were minutes from a crash landing. Gareth violently pulled back on the controls, hoping to raise the plane's nose, stopping the dive.

It was no use. There was no stopping the dive now, it was simply too late. Looking over to the altitude gage, he realized they were at only 3,000 feet, and losing hundreds more every second. Realizing they were moments before impact, he yelled: "guys! Brace for impact!"

 **Bang!...silence**

Gareth opened his eyes. As he took in his surroundings, he realized that he was laying on his stomach on grass. He tried to get up but couldn't budge. _I must've broken my legs_ he though. Looking forward while still lying down, he noticed the burning wreckage that once used to make up an airplane. He must have been thrown from the plane as it impacted the ground, thus the reason he was meters away from it."NO!" he yelled, realizing his family was still inside. He desperately began to crawl as fast as he could towards the burning wreckage, but just as he was getting close it exploded. The shockwave that was produced violently sent him flying through the air, and hard into a tree. Gareth groaned in pain, his head receiving the worst of the impact. He could feel himself drifting in and out of conciseness. As he lay on the ground, he heard a rustling sound. Looking up, he saw a large dark figure emerge from behind a nearby bush. As it stepped into the moonlight, Gareth could now perfectly make out what it was. A fully grown lioness, who was now making her way steadily over to him. Gareth's first instinct would be to run, but he was quite obviously in no physical condition to do so. Accepting defeat, he rolled onto his back looking up at the star and smoke filled, accepting his fate. _I lost my whole family, survived a plane crash only to be eaten alive. Could my day go any better?!_ He thought sarcastically. The lioness was now almost standing over him, he could tell she was looking right into his eyes. But to his surprise, instead of an agitated, bloodthirsty expression, the lioness's facial features were calm and almost full of concern. "Oh just kill me already. And make it quick, I suffered enough today as it is" he said to himself aloud. But to his utter shock, the lioness opened her muzzle and... spoke!

"Oh don't worry, young one. I'm not going to eat you silly" she said, whilst maintaining her calm facade. Gareth's mouth opened in shock. "D-did..you just..s-speak?!" he said, not believing what he had just heard. "Of course you didn't!" he yelled, "I hit my head, I'm hallucinating!, to think a lioness would speak…" he yelled into the air. But the lioness just maintained her calm expressions and asked "but of course I did, young one. Why are you so surprised?". Gareth had been through major trauma and lost his family, but now having a lioness actually speak to him was enough to push him over the edge. His jaw slowly dropped in shock, as his eyes closed. His head hit the ground with a thud as he blacked out…

 **A/N:**

 **So guys, what do you think? This is my first fanfic so go easy on me. Please fav, follow and review! You guys are more than welcome to send me ideas for future chapters.**

 **Until next time, Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Gareth's dream, through his POV**

Alarms were going off everywhere in the cockpit. We were in a dive; a dive I could not control. Through the alarms, I could still hear Camy and mom crying. They were trembling so loud I could hear it. "Gareth, you've got to do something. Save us!" Camy screamed. "I know Camy. I'm trying" I yelled back at her. I checked our altitude, we were currently at 5,000 feet. At this drastic rate of descent, we'd crash in under a minute. If I planned on doing anything to stop the dive, it had to be done now. It was do or die time; now or never. I yanked on the controls with all my might. 3,000 feet to impact. As hard as I pulled it was no use. The dive was a force I could not stop, the laws of physics playing against me. 2,000 feet to impact. Mom and Camy were screaming, dad must be too shocked to scream.

As a desperate last measure, I lowered the gear, extended the flaps and air brakes (if you don't know what those are, Google it) in hopes of creating drag. If my planned worked - the drag produced would help slow the dive. Unfortunately, I failed to take into consideration the fact that we were diving towards earth at almost the speed of sound. The second I lowered the gear, flaps and air brakes, I could clearly hear them tearing away from the fuselage and wings. Now we were really screwed. Even if I did somehow manage to stop the dive, without landing gear we'd have no way to land. It wouldn't matter though, there was no stopping the dive now. 1,000 feet to impact. Time froze. My life flashed before my eyes. We were now moments away from impact, though it seemed to take for ever. "Oh shiiittttt…!" was all I managed to yell before we impacted with an explosion.

 **End of Gareth's dream**

"Nooo! They're dead! My whole family, dead! It's all my fault!" Gareth yelled in his sleep.

Gareth opened his eyes. He was sitting upwards, panting and sweating; his nightmare waking him up.

Taking in his surroundings, he noticed he was sitting on a cold stone floor. He was in some sort of cave, a pretty dark cave, the only light source being the moon's rays that poured through the cave's entrance.

Gareth looked down, and to his horror, realized he was by no means alone. He was circled by, wait, it couldn't be...lions?! Gareth had thought that his encounter with the lioness was only a part of his nightmare, not an actual occurrence. Looking around, he noticed that some of the lionesses were stirring in their sleep, clearly only moments from fully waking up. His yelling in his sleep must've woken them up! "Oh shit" Gareth cursed under his breath. He desperately tried to stand. Forgetting his legs were broken - he quickly failed in doing so, falling to the cold floor in immense pain. "Ouch! Oh, my damn legs!" he shouted. After he recovered from his pain episode, he cursed to himself again. He had surely woken them now. As if almost confirming his thoughts, he heard the words "he's awake" said behind him.

Gareth quickly spun around, only to come face-to-face with three very awake lionesses. "Ah! God dammit!" he yelled. The three lionesses began to wake their pride sisters, whispering "he's awake". Gareth froze. He now clearly heard them speak, and now was no nightmare. Realizing he was in big trouble, he desperately attempted to crawl away as fast he could. He quickly stopped though; pain shot through his body like a bullet. He was simply too injured to do so. He rolled onto his back and did his best to look around him. All the lionesses were now awake, and were now standing around him in a circle. Gareth was trembling with fear. _Is this how it ends?_ He thought.

Through the corner of his eye, he noticed a lion and a lioness, who were steadily making their way over to him. He turned to face them. He hadn't noticed the lion before, only the many lionesses. This was no ordinary lion, he was massive! He was definitely the biggest lion he had ever seen.

They were now only meters away; the lion's huge red mane swaying with every step he took.

Gareth braced himself both physically and mentally as he awaited his fate.

"P-please… d-don't eat me" he said in a quite, trembling voice. I didn't help. The pair were still approaching him at a steady pace. Gareth squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head,preparing himself for the worst…

But surprisingly, nothing happened.

Gareth slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. He froze. The lion and lioness were only about a foot away from him. He stared at them, fear lurking in his eyes. Most shocking of all though, they were...smiling! They were actually smiling at him!

"Don't worry, young one. No one's going to eat you" the massive lion said in a booming, stern voice.

Gareth just stared at them, frozen in time.

"It's really OK, I promise you. We mean you absolutely no harm" the lioness beside the massive lion said. Her voice was calm and full of warmth.

Gareth snapped out of his frozen state.

He had seen this lioness before. She was the lioness he'd encountered moments before he blacked out.

"H-how c-can I t-trust you? A-and.. h-how in God's name a-are y-you speaking?" Gareth asked, this time in a low, shocked voice.

"Well, to answer your first question, if we wanted to harm you, don't you think we would've done it already?". _Good point_ Gareth thought to himself.

"And to answer your second question, what do you mean? Of course we can speak" the massive lion asked.

"W-well, you're a lion. You're not supposed to be able to speak. Only humans can speak" Gareth answered, fear still present in his voice. "Well apparently we can" the lioness said. Gareth drew a slight, scared smile to his face as a result of her sarcasm. All the lionesses were now crowded around him, taking interested in the strange newcomer.

Gareth looked back up at the massive lion. "W-who are y-you?" he asked in asked in a whisper.

"I'm King Mufasa, ruler of these Pridelands, but you can just call me Mufasa. And this is my mate, Sarabi" the massive lion said, signalling to the lioness besides him. Gareth was glad he wasn't required to use formalities. It's not like he would anyways, considering that after all, he still was technically at the top of the food chain. Gareth just remained silent, staring into space. After what seemed like minutes but were in fact only moments, he eventually asked "how long have I been out for?". "Three days. Sarabi found you unconscious and brought you back here. Rafiki, our shaman, had a look at you and said you'd eventually make a full recovery. He also said that both your legs are broken, so don't try to stand again" the massive lion, who Gareth now knew to be Mufasa, answered. Gareth just nodded and continued staring into space. Sarabi eventually broke the silence. "Come on, everyone. I think it's best we all leave him alone now. He's had a tough past few days. We'll find out more about him tomorrow" she said in her signature calm, warm voice. And with that they all turned around, walking away. They settled down, and eventually, one by one, began to drift into sleep.

Gareth just continued staring.

 _What the hell is going on?_ He thought…

 **A/N:**

 **So, what are your thoughts on this chapter? Make sure to write them down and review! It motivates me to continue updating. Also, if you haven't already, please fav and follow. Until next time, Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys! How have you all been doing? Sorry for taking so long, hopefully the authors note at the end will explain why it's taken me so long to update. Enough of me talking, enjoy!**_

Gareth opened his eyes. It was morning, radiant light seeping through the den's entrance. Yawning wide, he sat up and looked around the den's interior. Most of the lionesses inside were already awake, talking amongst themselves. Gareth grunted quietly, last night's events still fresh in his mind. Luckily, he was all the way to the side near one of the den's walls. With luck, no one had noticed him being awake. Gareth lied back against the den's wall, thinking to himself. His idea of a perfect day definitely didn't include being stuck inside a cave with a bunch of predators who could easily tear him apart.

That's when he made up his mind. He had to leave, fast.

After a few minutes of thinking, he came to the conclusion that his best chance for an unnoticed exit would be to quietly crawl along the den's wall, eventually reaching the den's opening.

Getting down on his stomach, Gareth began crawling.

After about three minutes of continuous crawling going unnoticed, he knew he was close. He smiled. _That's it! Almost there… just a few more-_

"Gareth?"

Gareth's heart dropped as he froze, his crawling coming to a stop.

Slowly sitting up, he realized that almost the whole pride were crowded around him. The massive lion he knew to be Mufasa and his mate were only feet away from him. He had been caught.

Gareth almost fell back in fear, desperately trying to back away.

Unfortunately, he was so close to the wall, leaving him no room to escape. He was cornered, there was no way he was getting out of this one.

"Gareth?" Mufasa asked again.

Gareth just stared at him.

Sarabi stepped forward and broke the silence.

"Gareth, you are too hurt to leave, young one. We can help you. Just let us-

"Why?! Why!" Gareth cut her off with a yell, anger boiling inside him.

"Why what? Young one" Sarabi asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Why did you bring me here?! Why did you save me?! Couldn't you have just let me die!" Gareth screamed.

Mufasa growled at Gareth's sudden outbursts. Sarabi nuzzled her mate softly, calming him down.

"Well I couldn't just leave you out there and let you-

"Well you should have!" Gareth said, rudely cutting her off for the second time. With that, he turned his back to them and covered his face with his hands.

"Gareth, can you please just tell us what had happened to you? Why you are so mad at the fact that I saved you?" Sarabi asked.

Gareth didn't budge, he was in no mood to answer any more questions.

Sarabi turned around, facing the many lionesses who had gathered around.

"Listen ladies, let's all back off and give Gareth some space. We can not help someone who isn't interested in being helped. We will talk to him later if he'll cooperate" Sarabi said.

The lionesses simply nodded and turned around, walking away to do as they pleased.

Gareth looked up, staring at the wall he was facing. _What's come over me? Why was I so rude to the one who saved my life? Not to mention the fact that I just yelled at a bunch of lions who could've easily killed me!._ Gareth mentally face palmed himself; _I'll apologize to her later_ he though.

 **Time skip to late afternoon**

Gareth was still facing the wall in the same position he was earlier. As he sat there thinking, something suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts:

 _Voices_.

Gareth slowly turned his head in the voices direction. That's when he noticed them. Seven adolescent lions talking amongst themselves just outside the den's entrance. Gareth turned his attention to their conversation, doing his best to hear what they were saying.

"He's in there. My mom found him out near the border. He was injured so she took him back here to Pride Rock" one voice said, clearly a male.

 _Pride Rock?_ _Is that where I am? I've never heard of such a place…_ Gareth thought to himself. He quickly pushed his thoughts aside and continued listening.

"Cool! We should go talk to him…" another voice said, this one clearly belonging to a female.

"Wait, Tama. Sarabi said that we should give him space…" another female voice said.

"My mom won't find out, Kula. We should go talk to him! We've never seen a human before" the same male voice from before said.

Gareth frowned. The fact that they were talking about him angered him for some reason.

As he continued staring at them, one of the adolescent lionesses suddenly looked towards him. The lioness had a cream coloured coat, and beautiful aqua green eyes.

The lioness continued staring at him, but quickly nudged one of the males who had a golden coat and hazel eyes.

"What is it, Nala?" the male lion asked as he turned to look at her.

"Uh… I think the human noticed us, Simba" the lioness replied.

With that Gareth noticed the male lion look up straight at him.

"Guys, he can see us. There's no reason not to talk to him now…" Gareth heard the male cub say to his friends.

The other adolescents nodded and walked into the den, slowly making their way over to him.

Gareth blinked. He was still pretty mad and was in no mood for making conversation. He just hopped they didn't expect him to be all friendly.

When they were about five feet away from him the seven friends stopped, and the golden coated male walked up to him.

"Hi! Uh...what's your name? " the male lion asked him. Gareth didn't answer, and turned his head away from the group.

"Well… I'm Simba, Prince and future King of the Pride Lands!" the male said again in a very cocky voice.

Gareth turned his head and stared at the Golden lion.

"I couldn't care less" he said in a short tone.

"Damn, Simba! He just put you in your place!" one of the males who sported an orange coat and a jet black mane said.

The other lions burst into laughter, the only ones not laughing being the Golden lion he now knew to be Simba, and himself.

Simba frowned and turned towards his laughing group of friends.

"Oh shut it, Malka. Nobody asked you!" the Golden lion snapped.

"Blah! Blah! Blah!" was the orange lion's response, making the group giggle.

Simba gave Malka a dirty look and turned back to face Gareth.

"Now, where were we… what did you say your name was?" the Golden lion asked him.

Gareth rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Listen, kid. I'm really not in the mood, so how about you turn around and leave me alone?" Gareth asked in an annoyed, tired voice.

The golden lion's jaw dropped in shock. _He must not be used to people talking to him like that_ Gareth thought.

"Damn, Simba! He put you in your place for the second time in under a minute! That's got to be a record" the orange lion said in a joking tone.

"Look, I get that you don't want to be friendly, but I'm trying to be nice here! Let me at least introduce myself and my friends to you" the golden lion said, he was clearly about to be pissed.

Gareth thought to himself. Giving in would have to be the fastest way to get some peace and quiet. He also didn't want to cause any unnecessary problems.

"You know what? Go ahead. Shoot" Gareth said.

The Golden lion smiled. He turned around and motioned for his friends to come forward.

"As I was saying, my name is Simba"

Gareth nodded at him.

"This is Tama" Simba said, pointing to a lioness with a cream colour coat that had a hint of orange and brown eyes. She also had a noticeable hair tuft on her head.

"This is Kula" he said pointing to a lioness with a dark brown coat and purple eyes.

He then pointed to the lion with the orange fur and jet black mane. "This is malka, the smartass" Simba said smirking.

"This is Chumvi" he said while pointing at a male who sported a dark brown coat.

Moving on, he pointed to another male who had a golden coat similar to his and a light brown mane. "This is Tojo, he has a thing for birds…" Simba said, earning him a dirty look from Tojo.

Before pointing at the last lioness, Simba stopped to smile at her. This was the lioness with the cream colour fur and beautiful aqua green eyes. Gareth could clearly tell the Simba had something for her.

"This… is _Nala"_ Simba said in a dreamy voice.

"Aye Simba, you know you're making it so obvious that you like her" the lion with the dark brown coat, Chumvi, said.

His remark caused Nala and Simba to blush.

"Oh shut up, Chumvi. We all know you like Kula" Simba snapped back. It was now Chumvi and Kula's turn to join the blushing 'club'.

"Umm...uh...let's change the subject" Chumvi said, still noticeably red.

Gareth decided he'd heard enough.

While smirking at the awkward position the group of friends were in, he said "a subject change would be a good idea. Now if you guys don't mind, please give me some space".

The group of friends almost seemed disappointed by his words.

"well, OK. But can you at least tell us your name?" Simba asked him.

Gareth lightly chuckled, he admired this lion's determination. He was clearly this group's leader.

"I do believe I asked you to give me space. Run along now… " Gareth said. He wasn't mad at all, in fact, he had said that in an almost friendly voice.

"Whatever you say, Mr 'run along now'. Come on guys, we'll talk to him later" simba said, smiling at Gareth.

The other young lions nodded. After they all said their goodbyes to Gareth, they made their way to the den's exit, eventually disappearing into the light.

Gareth lied back against the wall and chuckled to himself.

 _That simba guy…_ he thought, _I think I might just like him._

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **So, guys? What did you think? I'm sorry it took me so long to update. So, a little about myself:**_

 _ **I live in Manchester, and although I'm only 17, I happen to be a semi professional Football (soccer) player. I'm currently in tryouts for the Manchester City U18 team, and I'm doing well so far (yay!). The tryouts have obviously taken a lot of my time, and therefore I wasn't able to update for a while. If you haven't already, please fav and like! Don't forget to leave comment! They really motivate me to continue writing. Special thanks to everyone who commented on the previous chapter! Until next time, Bye!**_


	4. Chapter 4

"Ouch"!

Gareth awoke suddenly with a yell, a sharp pain shooting through his back.

Sitting himself up, Gareth frantically began searching for the source of his pain. After about a minute of searching, he finally found it. A sharp small rock sitting almost innocently on the cold cave floor. _I must've rolled onto it when I was asleep_ He thought to himself.

Gareth looked up to further take in his surroundings. Looking towards the den's entrance he quickly realized it was now nighttime, the glowing stars almost seemed to be dancing throughout the horizon.

As Gareth fixated his gaze towards the stars, he began to think to himself.

Someone, be it the air traffic controllers or the Civil Air Patrol, must be aware of the missing flight. All flights are accounted for. When a plane takes off yet fails to land, there's always at least _someone_ aware. By now they must know the location of the crash site, and after they can confirm it, they'll send a team of rescuers and investigators.

 _That's it!_ Gareth thought to himself. _I need to get to the crash site! If I have any chance of being rescued, that's where I need to be…_

Gareth gave a slight smile. He now had a plan. It wasn't much, but nevertheless it still was a plan.

He had made up his mind. He would leave for the crash site at dawn.

As Gareth finished his thoughts, he heard a noise. _Footsteps._ Well, pawsteps to be exact.

Gareth squinted his eyes once again towards the dens' entrance. After a few moments of continuous staring, he could finally make out the shadowy form of a lioness making her way towards the entrance. As the lioness finally entered the den, many others soon followed. _They must be returning from their hunting party_ he thought to himself. As if almost to confirm his thoughts, he quickly noticed two lionesses dragging the bloodied carcass of some big animal.

Gareth looked around. The den was now completely full of lionesses, most of which were busy conversing with themselves. He could also see a few cubs who were loudly playing with anything they could get ahold of.

As he looked on towards the crowd, he also noticed Simba and his friends who were all currently busy eating. He smiled at the sight of them.

He really hadn't made the best impression on them. He hadn't acted too nicely towards Simba, either. Actually, it was quite the opposite. He had not only not been nice to him, rather he had also embarrassed him in front of his friends.

Even though Gareth found him slightly annoying, there was no excuse for his hostility towards the golden cub.

Gareth looked back towards the golden cub and his friends. He would make things right with them later.

As he continued to stare towards the group of friends, the crowd of lions suddenly fell quite. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the forms of two figures approaching him.

Gareth turned his head towards the figures, he could now clearly see who they were. Walking towards him were the massive lion and the lioness who had saved him. Gareth quickly remembered their names. Mufasa and Sarabi, King and Queen of the so called "Pridelands".

Gareth blinked as they stopped a mere few inches away from him. He still feared them. Definitely not as much as before, but still. After all, the fact that they were _lions_ hadn't changed.

Gareth looked back and forth between the two. His eyes finally settled on the lioness, Sarabi, just as she was opening her muzzle to speak.

"Good evening, Gareth" Sarabi said, sighing lightly before continuing "are you ready to finally tell us what happened to you? How you ended up here? If you are still too pained, we understand. We'll give you space".

Gareth blinked at her again, thoughts racing through his mind. _Gareth,_ he thought to himself, _enough with the stubbornness! She saved you, provided you with medical care and a place to recover! Just tell them what happened already…_

After keeping them waiting for a rather long moment, Gareth finally sighed in defeat.

"Ok" he said in a low voice, "I'll tell you everything".

Almost instantly after agreeing to tell them, Gareth realized that everyone, including Simba and his friends, were now crowded around him. _I never thought I'd be so easily "interesting"_ he thought to himself sarcastically.

Gareth took a long, deep breath before he cleared his voice loudly.

"Ok, I'll try to make this as simple as possible, and I'll try to explain everything as best as I can" Gareth began.

Looking around he noticed that many of the lionesses were nodding slightly.

He took another deep breath before continuing.

"I come from a far away place called America. I don't want to get into detail as to what 'America' is. It's complicated. Basically, my family and I came out here on vacation. Far away from here is a country called 'Kenya', that's where my family and I were staying".

Gareth stopped to take another long breath. All this talking after days of him being quiet were taking a lot out of him.

"After staying in Kenya for about a week, we had to continue on to another far away country called 'Tanzania'.Now here's the tricky part. Humans use a contraption called an 'airplane' or 'aircraft' to travel long distances. To make it simple for you to understand, an 'airplane' is like a huge, rideable metal bird. It allows us humans to travel long distances much faster than walking. It's also an effortless form of travel. Now this big 'metal bird' is piloted by one, two or even three humans depending on the airplane's size."

Gareth stopped again and looked around, many of the lionesses clearly looked confused, yet he knew everyone understood him to an extent. He had warned them that it would be a lot to take in.

"Another important point is that these airplanes run on something called fuel. It supplies the plane's energy, just like how you get your energy from food. Now, just as an animal would starve and later die without food, if an airplane runs out of fuel, it no longer has the energy it needs to sustain flight. At that point a crash is inevitable".

Gareth closed his mouth and lowered his head slightly. Now came the dreaded painful part. Just the memories were enough to get him all choked up. The fact that his very avoidable mistake lead to the deaths of his whole family was simply too much for him to handle.

Gareth swallowed loudly before raising his head. The thick hot tears slowly streaming down his face were now visible to all. He didn't care though. He had brought it all upon himself.

"I'll get straight to the point. I happen to be a pilot, meaning I know how to fly and operate airplanes. Like I said, we had to get from Kenya to Tanzania, so I suggested that I'd fly us there myself. And that's exactly what I did.

But I made a big mistake. I didn't make sure we had enough fuel before we left. As we were about halfway to our destination, I finally realized my mistake, but it...it was simply too late".

Gareth was now crying uncontrollably. Sarabi tried to comfort him with a nuzzle, only to have Gareth push her away lightly. He sniffled loudly before continuing for the last time.

" What happened from there is history; we crashed and my whole family died! My parents and younger sister are all dead because of my mistake! They don't deserve to be dead because of my stupidity... I should be the one dead! But what happened? I live and they die! How cruel is that?! I may have lost everything, but boy did I get something in return. A burden. The burden of knowing that my whole family is dead because of me. A burden I will live with till the day I die…"

With that, Gareth collapsed onto the floor, trembling as he cried softly.

Sarabi looked towards him. She felt sorry for him, he had been through too much pain. She then turned and looked towards her mate. His facial features were filled with pity and sorrow, a rare gesture from his part. She then turned to face the other lionesses. Some were crying, but all wore sad expressions on their faces.

"OK, ladies" Sarabi said, "Gareth has just shared a very painful and personal matter with us. It's time we give him space".

And with that, the crowd scattered slowly throughout the den and settled down for the night.

After what seemed to him like years though it had actually only been a mere few minutes, Gareth finally raised himself off the ground and sat upwards against the cave's cold wall. These pain filled days simply never seemed to end. At least he'd be getting back to civilization tomorrow. Well, hopefully.

As Gareth stared into the dark distance, he noticed that Simba and his friends were slowly walking towards him. Gareth now remembered that they too had listened to his pain. _They must think I'm some cry baby for breaking down like that_ he thought to himself.

As they finally reached him, Simba was the first to speak.

"Umm...Gareth? Listen, I just wanted to let you know that we're really sorry for your loss. We really are. I know that we can never understand what you're going through, but for whatever it's worth, we will try to do anything we can to make you feel better".

Gareth just stared at the golden prince. He knew that he was very sincere, his beautiful features spoiled by a pained expression. This made Gareth even more sad. He never had intended to drag anyone into his own personal problems. Problems that he himself had caused.

Simba looked back towards him. Though Gareth was staring right at him, the young prince could tell that his mind just wasn't there.

"OK, guys. Let's go" Simba said, turning around to leave.

As he slowly walked away with his friends, he was surprised by a hoarse voice coming from behind him.

" _Wait"!_

Simba smiled, it was Gareth.

Simba slowly turned around to face him. What he saw shocked him. Gareth was still staring at him, but something was different. He was… smiling!

As the two continued staring and smiling at each other with no soon end in sight, Gareth finally spoke.

"Thanks, Simba. Thanks for everything…"

 **A/N:**

 _ **Hey guys! Did you miss me? Sorry for not posting in a while. Believe me when I tell you that football is to blame. So, what did you guys think? Let me know in the comments. They really motivate me to continue updating. Also, if you haven't already, please fav, follow and review! It means a lot to me…**_

 _ **Until next time, bye!**_


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